I recall when I was a kid, picking-up a booklet on bicycle repair at a local bike shop in my hometown of Fredericksburg.  I inquired of the shop owner, the apparent conflict of interest that may lead to less repair business for him.  “We have plenty of repair business… if you want to do the repairs yourself, I’d like to help you”, he said.

I am sure that I was back to his shop later, buying parts with my grass-mowing dollars and seeking his expert and readily-available advice. 

Funny what memories one can dredge up from 30 years ago, when I sometimes cannot immediately recall my home phone number.

What do I do with my spare time on weekends?  Work on the house!!  Why?  Because I can, and I enjoy it (sometimes), and well, I’m too darned cheap to hire my own company to do it (it is indeed, an expensive luxury).

Interestingly, my wonderful wife called our HandyMan manager a week or so ago (unbeknownst to me until that manager, Adam, reported that the Hearns are in the HandyMan queue), to schedule them for some siding and sill rot repairs.  Things she’d been after me for years to do, which chores held little interest to me in comparison to tearing out and rebuilding a mantel.

Hmmm…Dirty inglorious repair chores?  Cool stuff?  Time-consuming difficult tasks?  Cool stuff?  Really, what would a weekend-warrior DIYer rather be engaged in? (insert a picture here of Tom Hanks with a chainsaw and protective goggles, ruminating the merits of 220 volt rewiring)

This section of our web log is intended to help you, do-it-yourselfers, as well as those that may wish advice on a professional repair job.  I’m one of you (and about to become the other, thanks to my bride’s recent request for assistance).  It’s all good, however you get it done.  I hope that we can get it done right, together.

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